Ashley Amiri '17 Recruiting Profile

    When I was 3 years old, my dad decided it was time to put me into a sport. He put me in anything and everything, from soccer to ballet, swimming and even ice skating. Being a little kid, I dropped anything that didn’t appeal to me or I thought was boring. One thing, however seemed to stick and I never seemed to get enough of. That sport was tennis. Since then, I continued to play on weekends with coaches and groups. Tennis at that time was more of a side activity, more of a hobby. Then, in junior high, I switched tennis clubs and was exposed to a more competitive side of tennis. I started to play more often in groups and play in leagues offered at the club. It was during this time I started to compete in tennis tournaments. I quickly became hooked, I fell in love with it. Competing gave me the drive to go out and practice more and pushed me to keep improving every minute I stepped on the court. This was the time when I knew I wasn’t going to end my tennis career in high school, but strive to move beyond and to play tennis in college. Since then, I enjoyed competing during my high school seasons, playing first singles on our varsity team since freshman year. My first year on the team was tough not being used to the higher level of play but I managed and learned from it, only to improve the next year. 

As I began to practice more and more, I also drove to become better as an athlete in general. On the weekends, I sacrificed my time with friends and going out, by filling it in with some sort of physical activity related to tennis. In my free time during the week, I was either on the tennis court or hitting the gym, improving my physical ability so that I could face anything that came at me on the court. My drive to become more fit led me to finding a personal trainer, whom I have now been with for almost three years. Many other athletes only think of time playing their sport, when really, there’s much more to it than just going out and playing. Nutrition, fitness, and proper mentality are also very important in being an athlete. I track what I eat everyday to make sure I’m getting the proper nutrients to have the best possible energy on the court and a proper recovery afterwards. Mentality is everything, especially in the sport of tennis. I watch a lot of professional tennis players on social media as well as on television, when I get the chance, to see how they react to certain situations and observe how the handled other pressures on the court. I also like to give myself time off the court to be by myself and get away from hectic everyday life stresses. This time is very important to me because without it, I could very easily let a lost game get to my head and not take the time to sit and analyze what I had been doing wrong.

Since I was a child, I was surrounded by tennis and other sports that my friends played. My love for sports has made me consider going into sports medicine and becoming a team doctor or becoming a physician's assistant.

I enjoy many other activities outside of school and tennis as well. I’m part of the Interact Club and International Club at my high school that includes volunteering and setting up fundraisers for local and global causes. In the summertime especially, when the weather is nice and I have a lot more free time, I love to go out biking and hiking in parks and on trails. I also like to scuba dive with my mother whenever we go out on vacation.

I would make a good candidate for your team because I’m very self motivated, I don’t have to be told twice to go out to practice or to be on the court at 5 in the morning. I cherish and appreciate every minute and opportunity I receive to be out on the tennis courts or having to sit down and study for an upcoming test. The chance to go out and play the sport I love and to go to college and study a major I chose is a privilege that I would never want to take advantage of.